Tesoro upgrades its crude rail car fleet

By Rhiannon MeyersHouston Chronicle

Published 7:30 am, Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Weeks after the federal government unveiled new rules on trains hauling crude, Tesoro Corp. announced that it will add 210 new tank cars outfitted with new safety features to more safely transport volatile cargoes.

Tesoro teamed up with Union Tank Car Company early last year to develop a new car ahead of federal standards aimed at curbing a series of oil train explosions in the U.S. and Canada. The first round of cars has been completed and will be placed in service once Tesoro receives enough to form a full unit train, the company announced in a statement.

The San Antonio-based refiner will lease the cars from Union Tank Car Company, a rail equipment leasing firm based in Chicago. It did not disclose a price tag for the new fleet.

“In building our crude oil rail car fleet, Tesoro has consistently chosen rail cars that are among the safest and most robust available at the time of the order,” Keith Casey, executive vice president of operations, said in a statement. “Every time we’ve added to our fleet, it’s been with cars that offer additional safety enhancements.”

Tesoro’s new rail cars go a step beyond the newly released federal standards, the company said.

In addition to the thicker shells and thermal protection that all new cars built after Oct. 1 will be required to have, Tesoro’s cars also have thicker tank heads, protective housing for the openings workers use to access tank interiors, and can withstand twice the amount of pressure, the company said.